Arizona man sentenced to 55 years in 1981 murder

PHOENIX -- An Arizona man convicted in the beating death of a 93-year-old
woman was sentenced to the maximum 55 years in prison in a case that went
unsolved for nearly three decades until investigators revisited DNA evidence
from the crime scene.

Gary Billy Bivens pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and aggravated
assault in the January 1981 death of Martha Winters and an attack on her
sister-in-law during a burglary at the women's Phoenix home. The 92-year-old
sister-in-law was beaten but survived.

Stephen Enteman, Martha Winters' great-grandson, asked for the maximum
sentence, saying the attack had a devastating effect on his family. He recalled
how as an 11-year-old he noticed that his great-grandmother's face was swollen
as her body lay in the casket during a memorial service.

``This was a lot of trauma to a body,'' Enteman said, his voice cracking with
emotion.

Authorities say the case was solved after investigators re-examined it and
matched DNA found on a comb outside Winters' home with DNA from Bivens.

Bivens wasn't a suspect until 2010 but had submitted a DNA sample to a national
database after he was arrested on armed robbery charges. Police say DNA
processing wasn't available to investigators in 1981.

Investigators said a fingerprint from Bivens was found on a note left at the
burglary scene that said he would kill Winters' sister-in-law if she didn't have
money to give to him. Prosecutors said Bivens wrote the note because Winters'
sister-in-law was deaf and needed him to write out his demands to understand
them.

The no-contest plea by the 55-year-old in December spared him the possibility
of the death penalty.

Garrett Simpson, Bivens' attorney, said his client poses a low danger to the
community, has brain injuries from childhood due to physical abuse by his
mother's boyfriends, suffers from liver disease and hepatitis C, and has a life
expectancy of probably less than two years. Bivens was brought into court in a
wheelchair.

Simpson, who sought the minimum sentence of 21 years, said his client's squalid
upbringing that involved alcoholic parents and brain injuries doomed him at an
early age. Simpson read a statement by his client, who he said regrets the loss
of life and asked for forgiveness for any wrong he has committed.

``I wish the glory of God to be with them and their family,'' the statement
said of the victims. ``May they rest in peace.''

Prosecutor Vince Imbordino said he doesn't believe Bivens' claim that he
doesn't remember the attack. ``His fingerprint is on that note,'' Imbordino
said.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Karen O'Connor said whatever brain
abnormalities that Bivens has have no connection to the attack.

Bivens was working as a laborer when he was arrested in Winters' murder in
summer 2010. He was convicted of robbery in 1981 and aggravated assault in 1999.